Stalking Ghosts

"I just need a trusted messenger," Winston Churchill said to me. "President Wilson and Senator Lodge know me and have some small respect for me. They will listen. They must. The ties between the recent terrorist attacks and the current massive labor strikes are undeniable evidence of the workings of Bolshevism in the United States. These are not the arbitrary, isolated events directed by a few uneducated immigrant anarchists. These are coordinated efforts promoted and guided by Moscow." September 1919. All combatants of the Great War, save Russia, have signed the Treaty of Versailles formally ending more than four years of slaughter. In Russia, civil war continues to rage, and the government in Great Britain sees a Red revolution as a very real threat to the world order. In the United States, the past four months have brought riots, strikes, and bombings. Against this uncertain backdrop, the world must hold its collective breath while it waits for President Wilson to overcome the opposition of isolationist American senators in order to win ratification for the treaty he promises will end all wars. While traveling to Washington at the request of the British, John Griffin, Great War veteran and agent for Wilson and Colonel House, encounters a German plot to undermine Wilson's efforts. He also learns, to his horror, that he is the key for the success of their plan. Pursued by enemies, real and imagined, and battling the demons inside his head, Griffin strives to escape his role in the scheme while protecting his friends and family. Betrayal hounds his efforts and, ultimately, upends much that he had come to believe.